Erta Ale volcano is a large basaltic shield volcano in the Erta Ale volcanic range in the central northern Danakil depression (NE Ethiopia).
It is famed for its persistent lava lake which has been active during most of the past decades since it was first discovered in the 1960s.
Erta Ale is only 613 m high, but as typical for a shield volcano has a very gentle slopes and a large 40 km diameter base. The summit is truncated by a complex, elongated 1700 x 600 m wide caldera which contains vast lava flows and several larger and smaller pit craters, most notably the active north and south crater, which contains the lava lake at present.
Erta Ale is one of the main attractions of the Danakil, and had became a popular tour destination in recent years. Unfortunately, the deadly attack on 4 January 2012 against tourists and scientists camped on the crater rim, in which several were killed, illustrates that the area is politically unstable and can be subject to terrorist attacks. Anyone visiting the volcano should be aware of this.

Erta Ale (Ethiopia) volcano news:

Activity remains elevated at the volcano in the Danakil. The latest available information show simultaneous effusive activity from both the north and the south crater - the latter, which contained the famous lava lake has been overflowing and building a new lava shield that started to partially fill the summit caldera.
It seems that lava flows have started to overflow even outside the caldera through the low part of the rim on the NE side (judging from satellite data).
Our next Erta Ale Volcano Special tour is soon (on 14 Jan) leaving for the volcano to stay 4 days and nights. Participants will hopefully be able to provide fresh information from the field.

Vorherige Nachrichten

Two participants on our tour in mid-late November sent us impressions from the very active Erta Ale volcano (lava lake currently overflowing) and Dallol (increased activity at the hot springs). ... [mehr]

The lava lake in the volcano's southern pit crater started again to overflow repeatedly since early November. Fresh lava flows have been covering significant parts of the caldera floor, our expedition leader reported. ... [mehr]

The level of the active lava lake in the volcano's southern pit crater of the summit caldera has sunk a bit again after its last overflow in mid January, but remains highly agitated. Our expedition leader Enku who was there with a small group from 12-15 February reported: ... [mehr]

The lava lake of Erta Ale has overflown, our correspondents from Ethiopia reported. The first lava over-spilled the rim of the containing crater at midnight of 15-16 Jan 2016. It seems that the situation is similar to the spectacular events in November/December 2010 when the lava lake last overflowed. ... [mehr]

During our recent volcano expedition to the Danakil depression, we have observed the active lava lake of Erta Ale - which had been at very high level just a few meters before overflowing - for three continuous days (19-21 November 2015). ... [mehr]

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